


Catching a Unicorn

by houdini74



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Committed Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-08 08:12:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17977607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: Patrick's not sure how he ended up here, but he knows it's where he should be. And now with part 2 from David's perspective.(There are no actual unicorns in this story. Sorry.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a number of different interviews with Noah Reid about how Patrick views David and the Rose family as though he's stumbled across some sort of extraordinary new life form. [Like this one.](https://www.thetvjunkies.com/schitts-creek-noah-reid-season-5-interview/)

Even when he looks back and examines things, Patrick still isn’t sure how he has come to this place in his life. And, the more closely he looks at where he is and who he’s become, the more ridiculous it seems, so mostly, he tries not to think about it too much.

It is, he thinks, as if he’d gone to sleep one night and woken up surrounded by unicorns. Or aliens. Or circus performers.

It isn’t that he isn’t happy. He knows that he’s happier than he has ever been. He’s definitely happier than he’d ever been with Rachel. A thousand times happier than that. And happier than he was when he was doing mid-level business development work for the local credit union. And he’s even happier living in this weird little town than he was in the city. His happiness makes everything seem even more surreal. 

He’s always thought of himself as an average guy. He played second base on his high school baseball team, got engaged to a pretty girl and went to university to get his business degree. By anyone’s estimation, he should be married, living in a suburban neighborhood, watching baseball games with his buddies every weekend.

And yet, here he is.

He’d tried explaining it to his sister once, shortly after David had kissed him for the first time. He’d attempted to tell her about the time Mrs Rose thought she’d killed the guest at the motel. But the tangle of words that had come out as he’d tried to explain the people and the town and most of all, the incredible, preposterous delight that they bring him, forced him to abandon his story halfway through.

And in that moment, he had known that everything he was or wanted to be was contained within this town and with these people. 

It’s within the store that he and David have built together, that he is so proud of and loves beyond measure.

It’s with Mrs Rose and her outrageous outfits and her unplaceable accent and her random vocabulary, who appears completely self absorbed until the moment someone dares to damage someone she considers her own. 

And with Alexis, who is flighty and sometimes thoughtless but who has inexplicably gained all the confidence that her brother lacks. Alexis, who looks out for her brother in ways that seem to come from left field, but that always come from a place of love.

And even with Mr Rose, who has never gotten over Rose Video, but who pours his heart into everything he is involved with, even if it’s just a forgotten small town motel and the people within it. 

It’s with all of them, who have accepted him without question, undeterred by having so little in common.

And most of all, it’s with David. David, who has ruined him for anyone else. David, with his black and white designer clothes and his perfect hair, whose sarcasm and dissembling hide a heart that’s been broken a thousand times. David, who manages to overcome the fear that his heart will be broken again in order to build a relationship and maybe even a life with Patrick. 

David, who fascinates and amuses him, who lives his life so far outside of any reality that Patrick has ever experienced. David, who gives him the things that that he didn’t know needed. No one else teases him about his perfectly normal clothing. Or calms him when things don’t go to plan. No one else can match him word for word, glance for glance, first as a challenge and then, when the chips are down, with so much love. 

And so, Patrick tries not to think about unicorns.

He looks over at the shock of black hair that is just visible under the covers beside him. It’s mussed from sleep and his hands the night before. He knows that soon David will wake and that he’ll complain when Patrick laughs at him and the catastrophe of his hair. 

And he knows that David will say that it’s too early even though they have to be at work in less than two hours.

And he knows that he’ll protest when David drags him back under the covers to continue what they started last night.

But he knows too that neither of them will mean it, not the protests or the complaints. That underneath the words is something he’s never known before, an acceptance, a love, a desire, and the fierce joy that comes from catching a unicorn.


	2. Safe Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time, from David's perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Stargatewars for the prompt!

Looking back, David can’t pinpoint the exact day that he stopped hating the fact that he was stuck in Schitt’s Creek. It had been a slow and gradual thing, that had gone mostly unnoticed until, suddenly, it wasn’t. And while there isn’t an exact date, he thinks that maybe there was a moment when he’d felt the balance shift, when it tipped for the first time towards the place where he is now.

Even as he has that thought, he’s unsure. Was it the moment he kissed Patrick that first time? Or was it the moment they met? Or had it come later when Patrick had told him that he loved him?

Or had it been when he had said the words in return? When he’d meant them so fiercely and deeply, with a sharpness that even now makes forming the words hard, harder than anything he has ever done.

It is, at this moment, too big a thought for him to handle. And so, he lets his mind shy away from it, returning to his planning for the new product line at the store. Safe ground, unencumbered by messy thoughts.

Except that the catalyst for those thoughts is so completely ingrained in his life that nowhere is safe. Not anymore. 

Nowhere is safe from the glint of blue that catches the corner of his eye and makes him turn his head. As though the color blue now belongs entirely to Patrick.

Nor is anywhere safe from the soft brown eyes that seem to meet his whenever he needs them, as though the two of them are connected by an invisible thread that demands a response to every thought and desire.

Even this damn product development sheet, so cleverly designed to capture both David’s creative vision and Patrick’s business metrics makes his thoughts circle back to how everything had changed. All because of Patrick.

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick.

Patrick, who has done something David once would have said was impossible, turning this town from a last resort pit stop into the place of safety he has always craved.

As his traitorous thoughts return to the place he wants to avoid, he thinks about how it was inescapable. As though the universe had set a trap to ensnare him, baiting it with button-down shirts and department store denim, luring him towards something that was so different from his previous reality that he had no choice in the matter. And while most people would look at the two of them and see Patrick as the ordinary one, the truth is that David has never met anyone like him. 

He’s never met anyone who projects such confidence, instead of offering false modesty and fake accomplishments.

There’s never been anyone who has told him no, who has refused to pander to him, who has refused to be steamrolled by the force of his personality.

He isn’t used to someone who hasn’t run away, or pushed him away, or who has stayed, but only to use and punish before inevitably leaving in the night, or during the day, or whenever it might hurt him the most.

And, he’s never known anyone who can pierce his well-worn armor so effectively, and with such humor, turning his fears and ridiculousness into a good-hearted game, yet always, always standing with him when he needs him the most.

In a few moments, the focus of his thoughts will return, and those warm brown eyes will meet his, and as always, a small shiver will arise, deep inside him. And Patrick will chide him for daydreaming over the unfinished form, because they have a business to run, and because it’s important to have a plan before they develop a new product line.

And he’ll protest about his creative process but they both know that David will finish the form, not because he cares about the plan, but because Patrick wants him to and he wants to make Patrick happy. 

And they’ll begin their daily dance, of working together, of loving each other, each one challenging the other to bring what they need as they move through the day. 

But before they do, Patrick will kiss him hello and in that brief moment, time will stand still and he’ll be reminded again that this is what safe feels like.


End file.
